Banana Tie Guan Yin

My cats smashed my mug full of this tea (and knocked over several others, making the world’s hugest mess) so I’ve had to make a second mug of it. I’m drinking it at room temperature, and it’s a nice, authentic green banana flavor with a pleasant oolong background. This tea is just so fresh-tasting and lovely. And I’ve officially finished my last advent calendar tea from 2020! Feels good to be caught up finally.

52Teas Countdown Day 7
SO happy to see this tea.I love banana flavored teas, and I do enjoy a TGY. Brewed gongfu, and this is just absolutely lovely. The banana scent is stronger than the flavor. It’s fresh, green, and floral which work wonderfully with the banana.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 19

How is it less than a week until Christmas??? So much left to do…

Anyway, this tea made me realize that I don’t think I’ve ever had a plain banana-flavored tea before. It’s always banana walnut or banana bread or banana pancakes or something. And after trying this one, I think I do prefer having another flavor in there to balance out the banana. This one felt a bit bland and I found myself wanting some nutty notes (like Fava’s Banana Walnut Bread) or maple (like AQTT’s Banana Pancakes). But it was smooth and easy to drink and gave me the caffeine boost I needed this morning, so not complaining!

This is over a year old at this point, so I was hesitant when I found it buried under other teas. However, this is still really good. I think I underleafed on the first cup so I’m getting mostly a candy-ish banana flavor and a faint whiff of tea. I’m guessing I need a bit extra since it’s older. We’ll see how the second round goes.

Adventaggedon Day 13 – Tea 2/6

I actually already owned this tea, but I was still really excited to see it in the countdown because I always look at my little sample bag and then feel guilty making it – it’s one of those “tea hoarder” problems where you’re always putting off that last cup. Now I have a stash top up though, so I don’t have to feel guilty about it for at least a little while!

I think I like this more than the Banana Pudding from earlier in the advent, but both are excellent. I feel very treated to have got not one but two banana teas in the countdown! The banana is creamy but mostly fresh and naturally sweet and the slight greener edge of the TGY with the building florals really emphasize the realistic banana flavour. Medium-ish bodied, but one of those teas where the simple, cleanly executed flavours seems to build in richness over the cup as those flavours hang on the palate.

Mmm!

Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/ros_strange/

it’s been rainy the last couple of days, the temperature has dipped down and it actually feels like fall. yes. perfect, just like this tea. I thought I was going to have to partially swim to work this morning (it had been raining since at least midnight and stopped around….5am ish?) bc the city where I live is so used to being in drought, that rain? raiiin? the entire city like floods bc WHO KNOWS WHAT TO DO WITH THIS WATER? so, I packed an extra pair of socks and this tea to prepare myself for being upset this morning, but surprisingly it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t even see any huge puddles of water. nice.

tldr; it rained and this tea is actual banana perfection.

This is delicious cold brewed or hot. Tie Guan Yins are one of my favourite teas.

Score!

Steeped: 5

This is so perfect. I should’ve picked up more, especially considering I got dinged for Duty by Canada-US Customs and won’t be ordering again for a looooong time because I’m so mad (yet, I’m already fighting the compulsion to order a giant pouch of this).

Seriously though, the world needs more creamy banana with brightly floral tieguanyin. This is a jackpot blend for my taste buds. I look forward to resteeping and savouring all 12g of this.

Steep Count: 4

(2017 holiday reblend)

I love a banana tea, but I prefer my banana flavor be that of ripened bananas. The banana flavor in this tea was a bit…erm…green. It wasn’t full-on unripened banana. It reminded me of those times when you buy a bunch of a bananas that don’t quite ripen fast enough…but you have a hankering for a banana so you eat it, even those it’s still a bit green.

I’m also a bit iffy when it comes to oolong teas. I can count, on one hand, the oolong blends that I’ve actually enjoyed enough to drink more than just one cuppa. The oolong base for this blend is a little bit too mineral for my tastes. That quality combined with the flavor of unripened bananas just did not work well for me.

Sad times.